Shooting Range

Veronica got on an unfixed carriage and headed towards the shooting range. The official back in the Courthouse gave her a paper with the address. It was a nice thought, but kind of useless since Suze knew the exact place she needed to go.

The shooting range was actually located near the police station, she spent a night in. Later she learnt that the Lawbringer HQ was also nearby.

The carriage rumbled on, but strangely when they were nearing the Court Square it turned down onto a side street.

She was a bit confused, but it didn't take much brainstorming to figure out the reason.

'The protests are getting worse probably... If even the public carriage avoids that area, the problem is starting to blow out of proportions... I really starting to feel like moving away from Hammon, but the others seem to think it's not that bad... *sigh* Hope they are right...'

There weren't many people on the carriage at this hour. It was still before 6:30 am, if she would've gone after 7 am this carriage would be packed.

After getting off the carriage she headed towards a small building. It wasn't anything special or ornate. Above the door a large sign read 'Weapon Shop & Shooting Range'.

This was the official building for buying firearms and doing the two week weapon handling course.

Before entering she looked at the nice wooden door. On it there was another sign showing the opening hours. Luckily they open at 6 am, so she didn't have to wait at all.

Entering she heard the door hitting the small bell above her. Looking around Veronica's mouth nearly started to water. There were hundreds of different revolvers, repeaters and other kinds of firearms.

Immediately she could name most of them. They were dominated by four different kinds of action trigger types.

Revolvers of course used revolving action, then there were double-barrel shotguns, which used break action. The larger rifles like the repeaters used lever-action and the last type – which only the highest caliber weapons in the shop used – was the bolt-action.

It took every sheer will in her body to not touch anything. What really surprised Veronica how little protection there was. She could've literally taken down any of them without anyone stopping her.

Eventually after standing in the doorway for way too long, the man behind the counter started to become too uncomfortable.

"Excuse me Miss... Could I perhaps assist you with a purchase?"

With a lot of effort Veronica looked away from the weaponry and glanced at the man who had spoken.

He was of average build and a bit shorter than her. She judged him to be in his late thirties, but he could also be younger, his beard definitely added another couple of years to his looks.

Walking towards the counter she couldn't help to continue glancing around. The poor man had to wait another uncomfortably long minute before Veronica finally decided to respond.

"Thank you Sir, but I'm not here to buy... or not yet at least. I have to complete the two weak course before that. Where is that shooting range anyway? And how does this exactly work? Do I just go down there and begin shooting? Will I get an instructor? Who will..."

The man started to sweat under the barrage of questions Veronica was asking. Luckily he didn't need to answer any of them, because his partner was already heading this way.

Before Veronica could've asked another question a voice interrupted from her left.

"You must be Miss Veronica Navarro. I have already gotten your application for the two week course. If you would follow me, we can begin immediately. Oh, by the why I'm Harry Whitaker, I will be the instructor for today."

Before she could even answer or look at the man, he was already moving away. She quickly followed while muttering 'rude' under her breath. Behind the counter the shopkeeper was shaking his head.

He always found Harry a strange individual, it was maybe because of his police background, but he was still strange and even uncomfortable sometimes.

Veronica followed the man to a set of stairs leading down into what seemed like a large basement.

The shooting range was quite large. Stepping down from the last step Veronica looked around a bit impressed.

When she first learned about needing a two week course on shooting, she had thought it would be held at some dusty old government facility, but it looked like the police had kept this place well maintained... and well stocked.

To her left were the shooting galleries there were about a dozen of them with a bunch of different targets. Said targets were ranges that differed, the farthest being about 40 or 50 meters away.

To her right, there was a small lounge area, or at least something similar to it. There was also a large counter with a bunch of different training revolvers and other type of guns all over it.

The man – who Veronica still hadn't seen from the front – approached the counter and began rummaging through the different handguns.

"Hmm... No, it's too big... Maybe this, nope it's out of order... Could this work? No, the trigger is busted..." He went like this for the next five minutes trying to find something for her to shoot with.

Eventually he seemed to find a good enough piece and when he finally turned around Veronica could observe his appearance.

The man named Harry wore an old coat which was probably fashionable twenty years ago. He was in his late forties or maybe early fifties. His hair was already started to turn gray from its original ginger, and had a barely visible bald spot on the top of his head.

His eyes were the color of gray, which instantly raised a red flag in Veronica's mind.

For the next few seconds she carefully observed Harry's behavior and movements.

Instantly she noticed the disciplined stance and how he checked out the firearm, like it was a third hand of his. Still, she wasn't sure if she was just paranoid or maybe the man was part of the police, but her fears had soon turned true.

Without drawing attention to herself, she took out her pocket watch and pretended to check the time.

The moment her hand touched the pink embellished surface a small tremble went through it. Somehow she knew what it meant. The watch warned her about the man's presence, which could only mean one thing... she was dealing with an ascended.

The gears of her mind turned swiftly trying to determine if she was in any danger. Harry was still looking at the revolver, seeing if there was any problem with it. He didn't seem to know that Veronica was an ascended too.

'Okay... Calm down. This is nothing special, and he doesn't seem to know what I am... I just have to pretend and act like a normal woman. That's a really easy task, one I have been doing all my life!'

While thinking another important fact came to her mind, which nearly caused her well established poker face to slip.

'If he works at this place... Which is near the police station and the Lawbringer Headquarters... Dammit! He's definitely a Lawbringer!... Of course he is. GREAT!'

Slowly she was losing herself in these thoughts when Harry was finally done with the examination. With a motion of his hand he prompted Veronica to follow him to one of the galleries.

With slightly nervous footsteps she approached the counter which separated her from the targets. The man placed down the revolver to the counter and took out six bullets for her to shoot with.

Her hand had a small tremble going through it as she moved it towards the gun, but before she could grasp it, Harry spoke.

"Don't be so hasty Miss Navarro. First we have to get through the academic part of the course. After we had talked everything through, possibly multiple times, will you began to try shooting." His eyes seemed serious, but also a bit bored.

'He probably has to do this with everyone who wants to do the course... Sucks to be him...'

Slowly she retracted her hand and she waited for the man to start explaining.

In truth she knew probably more about the revolver than the instructor, but it would be really suspicious to reveal any information like that.

"Okay, first. How much do you know about guns in general?" Veronica pretended to be in deep thought for a few moments before answering with an easy lie.

"I know that when I pull that thingy at the bottom it makes a loud noise and shoots out a bullet... Am I supposed to know more? I thought I only needed to do a bit of shooting for two weeks before I can own a gun!"

Veronica nearly cringed at her own voice. She made it a bit higher pitched, like back in her own world, the dumb woman who didn't understand anything had done.

It was horrible, but at least she wasn't the only one who thought that. The instructor raised one hand to his face, while shaking his head in dejection and sadness.

"Why do I always get the stupid ones..." He said, with a voice that should've been impossible to hear for any regular human.

Inside her mind, Veronica laughed evilly. By the end of today's course she will probably break this man, and it will be so much fun!